H E A D S
above the rest
The Newsletter of The Boutique Search Firm
| July/August 2001
To our loyal readers: since we have decided to issue a single issue for July and August, the amount of information we gathered reached the point where we had to separate our "Heads Above the Rest" into two parts. Today we are sending you only what pertains to The Americas. Next week, you will be receiving a separate July-August issue covering Asia & the Pacific, Europe, Africa and the Middle East.
We hope you have been enjoying "Heads Above the Rest" and encourage you to let us know of news we ought to be reporting.
Global Update: Who's where and doing what
THE AMERICAS
Atef Mankarios, in what will come as a surprise to many in the industry, has been named President of St. Regis Hotels & Resorts, a newly created division of Starwood. Mankarios, a distinguished hotelier, had a very successful career with Rosewood Hotels & Resorts, of which he ended up being the CEO prior to launching Foresthills Hotels & Resorts a few years ago. Also interesting is the fact that Mankarios is being joined at the helm of St. Regis by his loyal team of partners at Foresthills: Michael Matthews, Vice President of Marketing (and a household name worldwide after a career which, besides Rosewood, included Regent International and Ritz-Carlton) Andy Anderson, Vice President of Sales; Scott Blair, Vice President Finance; George Fong, Vice President of Engineering and Kenyon Price, Director of Operations. Surprising too for otherwise highly-centralized Starwood is the fact that Mankarios and his team will be based out of Dallas in what was until a few days ago the headquarters of Foresthills. Quid of Foresthills? Well it pretty much has ceased to exist as an independent entity, and is now part of the Starwood web.
Robin Brown, the longtime General Manager of the Four Seasons Hotel Boston, left on July 28, his 13th anniversary as General Manager. He will become principal of CWB Boylston, developers of a new luxury property in Boston. He will be replaced by Thomas Gurtner, who had recently become "unassigned" by Four Seasons when the Regent of Hong Kong, where he was the General Manager, was sold to Bass and reflagged Inter-Continental.
Thomas Lind has been named General Manager, Four Seasons Caracas, succeeding Yves Giacometti. Lind had been at the Four Seasons Mexico City as Hotel Manager, which he joined after several years
as General Manager with Wyndham Hotels and Resorts. He was also General Manager of the former Grand Hotel in Atlanta, which is now the Four Seasons
Hotel Atlanta. Prior to that, he was with Ritz-Carlton and Hyatt Hotels.
Gamal Aziz has been promoted to President and Chief Operating Officer of the MGM Grand Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas. He replaced William Hornbuckle, who became Executive Vice President, Marketing for MGM Mirage Resorts. Aziz¹s successor as Senior Vice President, Hotel Operations, is Chuck Bowling, previously the property¹s Senior Vice President Marketing. Like Aziz, Bowling originally came to Las Vegas from the Westin St. Francis in San Francisco.
Effective September 1, there is a new General Manager at Bacara in Santa Barbara. She is Kate Berry-Monahan, a 1981 Cornell Graduate and the former General Manager of the Ritz-Carlton Phoenix. She will be reporting to Bacara Managing Director Dick Holtzman, Cornell 1976. Also at Bacara Joel Letofsky, Cornell 1990, is Assistant Controller, coming from a similar position at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas.
David Benton has been elected Chairman of the Board of Preferred Hotels & Resorts Worldwide. Benton is Vice President and General Manager of The Rittenhouse Hotel and Condominium Residences in Philadelphia, a property he has been involved with since 1989. Prior to joining The Rittenhouse he was the General Manager of Denver Place, in Denver, Colorado. Benton is a Cornell Hotel School graduate.
Cyril Isnard has been transferred by Fairmont from Dallas, where he had been the General Manager for five years to the Fairmont San Jose, in the same capacity.
Stephen Brandman is the General Manager of Sixty Thompson, the latest luxe boutique hotel in Soho: unique touches there include a restaurant by Indochine and mini bars by Dean and Deluca. A Cornell graduate, Brandman previously spent fifteen years with Inter-Continental, most recently as the General Manager of the Inter-Continental New York at Central Park South.
Marco Nijhof is gone as the top man at Li Ka Shing's Our Lucaya in the Bahamas. His spot at the helm of the 1,350-room mega resort is being filled by Harbour Plaza Chief Executive Officer Eric Waldburger until further notice.
Claude Boudoux is the new Director of Food and Beverage at the Beverly Hills Hotel, where he replaces Charles Lennox III (now at the St. Regis Monarch Beach). Boudoux previously logged four years as Vice President Food and Beverage for the Golden Nugget Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas. He also was for ten years, a Regional Director of Food and Beverage for Hilton Hotels Corporation.
Laurent Fraticelli is the new General Manager at Peter Balasz¹s Hollywood Standard. First General Manager job for the 35-year old Lausanne-educated Frenchman who was previously the Director of Food and Beverage at the W Court & Tuscany in New York. Fraticelli replaces Patrick O¹Shea, who had originally started in the group¹s sister hotel, Chateau Marmont, in 1986.
At the Four Seasons Scottsdale, Executive Chef Michael Goodman, who had opened the property will now be handling the opening of the Four Seasons San Francisco, his fifth assignment with the company, and his third opening as Executive Chef. He is replaced in Scottsdale by Simon Purvis, transferring from the Regent of Singapore.
Also at Four Seasons: taking over from Susan Weaver as Executive Chef at the Four Seasons New York is Brooke Vosicka formerly of the Four Seasons Atlanta.
A few other Four Seasons chef moves: replacing Brooke Vosicka at the Four Seasons Atlanta is Kevin Hickey who had been Executive Sous Chef at the Four Seasons Beverly Hills and then held the some position for the opening of the Four Seasons Dublin.
Jean-Marie Lacroix retired from the Four Seasons Philadelphia (where he is replaced by his former Executive Sous Chef Martin Hamann) and Douglas McNeil retires from the Four Seasons Washington DC, a hotel he had opened in the same capacity in 1979. His successor is another Scotsman, and another Douglas: Douglas Anderson, a 14-year Four Seasons veteran, was most recently the Executive Chef at the Four Seasons Seattle (where his successor is Gavin Stevenson). He also served as Executive Sous Chef at the Four Seasons Chicago, San Francisco, and Boston.
At the immensely successful Ritz-Carlton Half Moon Bay, Executive Chef Bruno Lopez has been replaced by Xavier Salomon formerly the Executive Chef at the company¹s flagship, the Ritz-Carlton Buckhead. Salomon is a twelve-year Ritz-Carlton veteran. Lopez, who spent ten years with Ritz-Carlton, plans to relocate to Southern California.
Jacques Sorci has been named Executive Chef for the soon-to-open (October 2001) Ritz-Carlton New York Wall Street hotel. He was previously the Executive Chef at the Ritz-Carlton Marina del Rey and has been with the company since 1992. The Ritz-Carlton Marina del Rey also lost its Pastry Chef when Frédéric Monet was transferred to the new Ritz-Carlton Key Biscayne to perform its opening. Prior to joining Ritz-Carlton he had been the Pastry Chef at Merv Griffin¹s Givenchy Hotel and Spa in Palm Springs. Troy Thompson, Chef de Cuisine at Jer-Ne, the "experimental" restaurant at the Ritz-Carlton Marina del Rey, is replacing Sorci as Acting Executive Chef.
Francois Meulien has left Très Jazz at the Paris Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas to open his own restaurant, Tournesol, in Studio City. He was also the opening Chef de Cuisine at the Tour Eiffel restaurant at the Paris, following a three-year stint as Gourmet Chef at the since then shuttered Desert Inn in Las Vegas.
Marriott Hotels announced the appointment of Madeline Triffon, a Master Sommelier, as consultant and advisor to the company's wine selection and beverage offerings.
Effective September 1, Philippe Piel has been appointed Executive Chef of the Hotel Sofitel Washington DC due to open in January 2002. He was previously the Executive Chef at the Sofitel Santa Clara in Cartagena, Colombia. At age 32, he is on his fourth stint as Executive Chef.
René Peter left the Table Bay Hotel in Cape Town and took on the position of Food and Beverage Manager of "The World" of ResidenSea. The maiden voyage will be in January 2002.
Yann Clavadetscher is the Controller at Cotton House on the chic island of Mustique, coming from the Hyatt Regency Riyadh.
Robi Christen left her position of Director of Restaurants at Bacara to return to Four Seasons. She had come from the Four Seasons Las Vegas, and just joined the Four Seasons Scottsdale at Troon North.
Thomas James will be the opening Director of Catering and Conference Services at The Lodge at Torrey Pines in La Jolla, coming from the Carmel Valley Ranch.
The Handlery Hotel & Resort, in San Diego's Mission Valley, has named Kevin Thorstenson as the property's General Manager. He joins the Handlery after serving as the Hotel Manager of the Hilton Waterfront Hotel Beach Resort in Huntington Beach.
Hoyt Bacon has been promoted to Chief Marketing Officer for MeriStar Hotels & Resorts. Prior to joining MeriStar in 1999, Bacon was President and founder of United Direct Response. Previously, he held senior-level sales and marketing positions at Amfac Hotels and Westin Hotels & Resorts.
In Santa Monica, a shift from the Slatkin Brothers¹ Shutters on the Beach and Casa Del Mar to Brad Korzen's newest project, the Pacific Shore, for two key employees: Rooms Director Helen Miller leaves Shutters after eight years (she has originally joined as Front Office Manager in 1993, coming from Ian Schrager's Paramount in New York) and Casa Del Mar Food and Beverage Manager Mark Neubert. Also gone from Shutters are Director of Food and Beverage Jeff Jackson now the Executive Chef at the Lodge at Torrey Pines, and Desi Szonntagh, former Chef de Cuisine at One Pico and now the Executive Sous Chef at the Hotel Bel-Air. Last but not least, Asad Khan has left his position of Assistant Financial Controller to become the Controller at Las Vegas¹ Stirling Club.
Speaking of the Stirling Club, its newly-hired Executive Chef is German-born Stefan Kauth, who joined after a mere two weeks at the new Nob Hill Restaurant at the MGM Grand. He was previously a Chef de Cuisine at the Ritz-Carlton Palm Beach, after working his way through pretty much every Three-Michelin-Starred restaurant in Germany.
Spa Manager Kerry Printey, who had left the Regent of Las Vegas to join the Stirling Club, decamped after two months and accepted a similar position The Palms Hotel & Casino, also in Las Vegas. Also at The Palms, Greg Sheets has been hired as Director of Hotel Operations, coming from the Four Seasons Beverly Hills. Sheets, a Cornell graduate, logged ten years with Four Seasons in Maui, Dallas, Beverly Hills and Las Vegas.
Michael Tata is Director of Hotel Operations for the upcoming Station Ranch Resort and Casino in Green Valley, outside Las Vegas. He was previously the Front Office Manager at the Four Seasons Las Vegas.
Wyndham International announced the promotion of Donna DeBerry to Senior Vice President of Diversity, Assistant to the Chairman. Wyndham laid off several hundred management staff at approximately the same time.
Not wanting to be without such a valuable twenty first century commodity, Six Continents (ex-Bass) also announced the hiring of their own Vice President of Diversity. He is Jerome Miller, who had joined Bass in 1999 as a Senior Human Resources Business Partner.
Michel Neutelings will be the opening General Manager for Old Bahama Bay, a new luxury resort on Grand Bahama Island. The opening Managing Director of Parrot Cay, he was most recently the General Manager of Little Palm Island.
La Cabana All Suite Beach Resort in Aruba has named Lou Roelofsen as its General Manager. Prior to joining La Cabana, Roelofsen spent eight years as the General Manager of the Princess Beach Resort & Casino, a Crowne Plaza Resort, in Curacao.
Scott Morris is the General Manager of Destination Resorts¹ Sun River in Oregon. He was last in the same position at St. Regis Aspen. Also at Sun River Stan Kantowski has been promoted from Director of Food and Beverage to Director of Operations.
Richard Baker is the General Manager of Rosewood¹s landmark Mansion on Turtle Creek, after a distinguished career with Four Seasons which took him from the Four Seasons Beverly Hills to the Four Seasons Hualalai on the Big Island of Hawaii to the Four Seasons Resort and Club in Dallas.
Patrick Colombo has left cash-strapped Wyndham International where he was Vice President Food and Beverage Concept Development. He is going back to his love for freestanding restaurants in Dallas. A former Rosewood executive, Colombo had launched in the eighties the Sfuzzi Restaurant Group, with his brother Robert Colombo as partner.
Sandra Stock is the new Director of Human Resources at the New York Palace. She had worked years ago with Palace Managing Director Michael Silberstein at the Crowne Plaza New York. A graduate of the Industrial and Labor Relations School at Cornell, Stock was recently the Director of Human Resources for Condé Nast in Los Angeles.
Eric Centazzo, former Assistant Director of Human Resources at the New York Palace, has become the Director of Human Resources for the W New York Hotel.
Dan Tavrytzky has been named Director of Sales for the Westin Kierland Resort and Spa, in Phoenix, due to open in 2003. Previously, Tavrytzky served as Director of Group Sales for the Sheraton Crescent Hotel in Phoenix.
Tom Norwalk has left Four Seasons after a long and successful tenure in Sales and Marketing, to become the General Manager of a private club in Seattle.
The 99-room Avalon Hotel & Spa in Portland has just opened with Pierre Zreik as its General Manager. Zreik
was formerly with Rosewood Hotels and the Heathman in Portland. His Director of Sales is Edward Villafane, also formerly of Rosewood and The Plaza in New York City.
Patrice Basille has been hired by Terry Matthews, the owner of the Celtic Manor in Wales, to run the soon-to-open Brookstreet Hotel near Ottawa, Canada. Most recently Basille was Director of Operations for French Polynesia for Outrigger of Hawaii.
Val Hardcastle is Managing Director for Tenaya Lodge. He was previously the Director of Hotels for Yosemite Concessions Services Corporation. Donald Ponniah is his Assistant General Manager, having served most recently as Assistant General Manager for Yosemite Lodge.
Tohnia Miller is the General Manager at the Beverly Hills Inn.. She was previously the Director of Sales and Marketing for Destination Resorts at L¹Auberge Del Mar.
Phil Kleweno is President of Princess Cruises,
joining from Bain & Company. He will report to Peter Ratcliffe, Chief Executive Officer of P&O Princess Cruises plc.
Mark Osawa has been named Vice President of SWAN. Prior to joining SWAN, Ozawa ran HSP Consulting in Salt Lake City. Ozawa also held various positions with Westin Hotels and Resorts over an eighteen-year period, including Support and Implementation Manager, Business Solutions Manager, Operations Manager, Manager of Technical Systems, Front Office Operations Manager.
Atlantica Hotels International has named Annie Morrissey Vice President of Sales and Marketing. Morrissey previously was Vice President of Operations Latin America for Utell International.
Station Casinos announced that Stephen Cavallaro was named Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer replacing Blake Sartini, who recently purchased Southwest Gaming Services from the company.
Spice Island Beach Resort in Grenada has appointed Andrea Jennings General Manager. Before joining Spice, Jennings held the position of General Manager at Coco Reef Resort & Spa in Tobago.
Edited by Benoit Gateau-Cumin
President
The Boutique Search Firm
http://www.boutiquesearchfirm.com
benoit@boutiquesearchfirm.com